[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 54 (Friday, March 20, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15009-15011]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-06363]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
SUMMARY: On June 15, 1984, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
delegated to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
(Board) its approval authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 
to approve of and assign OMB control numbers to collection of 
information requests and requirements conducted or sponsored by the 
Board. Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into 
the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of 
information. Copies of the Paperwork Reduction Act Submission, 
supporting statements and approved collection of information 
instruments are placed into OMB's public docket files. The Federal 
Reserve may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required 
to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, 
revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 19, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR Y-6, FR Y-7, FR Y-
10, or FR Y-10E, by any of the following methods:
     Agency Web site: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments at http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]. Include OMB 
number in the subject line of the message.
     FAX: (202) 452-3819 or (202) 452-3102.
     Mail: Robert deV. Frierson, Secretary, Board of Governors 
of the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20551.
    All public comments are available from the Board's Web site at 
http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as submitted, 
unless modified for technical reasons. Accordingly, your comments will 
not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information. Public 
comments may also be viewed electronically or in paper form in Room 
3515, 1801 K Street (between 18th and 19th Streets NW.) Washington, DC 
20006 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
OMB Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office 
Building, Room 10235 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503 or by 
fax to (202) 395-6974.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of the PRA OMB submission, 
including the proposed reporting form and instructions, supporting 
statement, and other documentation will be placed into OMB's public 
docket files, once approved. These documents will also be made 
available on the Federal Reserve Board's public Web site at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/reportforms/review.aspx or may be requested 
from the agency clearance officer, whose name appears below.
    Federal Reserve Board Acting Clearance Officer--Mark Tokarski--
Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of Governors of the Federal 
Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551 (202) 452-3829. Telecommunications 
Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may contact (202) 263-4869, Board of 
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal

    The following information collection, which is being handled under 
this delegated authority, has received initial Board approval and is 
hereby published for comment. At the end of the comment period, the 
proposed information collection, along with an analysis of comments and 
recommendations received, will be submitted to the Board for final 
approval under OMB delegated authority. Comments are invited on the 
following:
    a. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the Federal Reserve's functions; including 
whether the information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Federal Reserve's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed information collection, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    c. Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    d. Ways to minimize the burden of information collection on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology; and
    e. Estimates of capital or start up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Proposal To Approve Under OMB Delegated Authority the Extension for 
Three Years, With Revision, of the Following Report

    Report title: Annual Report of Holding Companies; Annual Report of 
Foreign Banking Organizations; Report of Changes in Organizational 
Structure; Supplement to the Report of Changes in Organizational 
Structure.
    Agency form number: FR Y-6; FR Y-7; FR Y-10; FR Y-10E.
    OMB control number: 7100-0297.
    Frequency: FR Y-6: Annual; FR Y-7: Annual; FR Y-10: Event-
generated; FR Y-10E: Event-generated.
    Reporters: Bank holding companies (BHCs) and savings and loan 
holding companies (SLHCs) (collectively, holding companies (HCs)), 
securities holding companies, foreign banking organizations (FBOs), 
state member banks unaffiliated with a BHC, Edge Act and agreement 
corporations, and nationally chartered banks that are not controlled by 
a BHC (with regard to their foreign investments only).
    Estimated annual reporting hours: FR Y-6: 26,477 hours; FR Y-7: 972 
hours; FR Y-10 initial: 530 hours; FR Y-10 ongoing: 39,735 hours; FR Y-
10E: 2,649 hours.
    Estimated average hours per response: FR Y-6: 5.5 hours; FR Y-7: 4 
hours; FR Y-10 initial: 1 hour; FR Y-10 ongoing: 2.5 hours; FR Y-10E: 
0.5 hours.
    Number of respondents: FR Y-6: 4,814; FR Y-7: 243; FR Y-10 initial: 
530; FR Y-10 ongoing: 5,298; FR Y-10E: 5,298.
    General description of report: These information collections are 
mandatory as follows:
    FR Y-6: Section 5(c)(1)(A) of the Bank Holding Company Act (BHC 
Act) (12 U.S.C. 1844(c)(1)(A)), sections 8(a) and 13(a) of the 
International Banking Act (IBA) (12 U.S.C. 3106(a) and 3108(a)), 
sections 11(a)(1), 25, and 25A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 
248(a)(1), 602, and 611a), and sections 113, 312,

[[Page 15010]]

618, and 809 of the Dodd-Frank Act (12 U.S.C. 5361, 5412, 1850a(c)(1), 
and 5468(b)(1), respectively).
    FR Y-7: Sections 8(a) and 13(a) of the IBA (12 U.S.C. 3106(a) and 
3108(a)) and sections 113, 312, 618, and 809 of the Dodd-Frank Act (12 
U.S.C. 5361, 5412, 1850a(c)(1), and 5468(b)(1), respectively).
    FR Y-10 and FR Y-10E: Sections 4(k) and 5(c)(1)(A) of the BHC Act 
(12 U.S.C. 1843(k), 1844(c)(1)(A)), section 8(a) of the IBA (12 U.S.C. 
3106(a)), sections 11(a)(1), 25(7), and 25A of the Federal Reserve Act 
(12 U.S.C. 248(a)(1), 321, 601, 602, 611a, 615, and 625), and sections 
113, 312, 618, and 809 of the Dodd-Frank Act (12 U.S.C. 5361, 5412, 
1850a(c)(1), and 5468(b)(1), respectively).
    The data collected in the FR Y-6, FR Y-7, FR Y-10, and FR Y-10E are 
not considered confidential. With regard to information that a banking 
organization may deem confidential, the institution may request 
confidential treatment of such information under one or more of the 
exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552). The 
most likely case for confidential treatment will be based on FOIA 
exemption 4, which permits an agency to exempt from disclosure ``trade 
secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person 
and privileged and confidential,'' (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). To the extent 
an institution can establish the potential for substantial competitive 
harm, such information would be protected from disclosure under the 
standards set forth in National Parks & Conservation Association v. 
Morton, 498 F.2d 765 (D.C. Cir. 1974). Exemption 6 of FOIA might also 
apply with regard to the respondents' submission of non-public personal 
information of owners, shareholders, directors, officers and employees 
of respondents. Exemption 6 covers ``personnel and medical files and 
similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly 
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,'' (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6)). All 
requests for confidential treatment would need to be reviewed on a 
case-by-case basis and in response to a specific request for 
disclosure.
    Abstract: The FR Y-6 is an annual information collection submitted 
by top-tier HCs and non-qualifying FBOs. It collects financial data, an 
organization chart, verification of domestic branch data, and 
information about shareholders. The Federal Reserve uses the data to 
monitor holding company operations and determine holding company 
compliance with the provisions of the BHC Act, Regulation Y (12 CFR 
part 225), the Home Owners' Loan Act (HOLA), and Regulation LL (12 CFR 
part 238).
    The FR Y-7 is an annual information collection submitted by 
qualifying FBOs to update their financial and organizational 
information with the Federal Reserve. The FR Y-7 collects financial, 
organizational, and managerial information. The Federal Reserve uses 
information to assess an FBO's ability to be a continuing source of 
strength to its U.S. operations, and to determine compliance with U.S. 
laws and regulations.
    The FR Y-10 is an event-generated information collection submitted 
by FBOs; top-tier HCs; security holding companies as authorized under 
Section 618 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 
Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 1850a(c)(1)); state member banks 
unaffiliated with a BHC; Edge Act and agreement corporations that are 
not controlled by a member bank, a domestic BHC, or a FBO; and 
nationally chartered banks that are not controlled by a BHC (with 
regard to their foreign investments only) to capture changes in their 
regulated investments and activities. The Federal Reserve uses the data 
to monitor structure information on subsidiaries and regulated 
investments of these entities engaged in banking and nonbanking 
activities. The FR Y-10E is a free-form supplement that may be used to 
collect additional structural information deemed to be critical and 
needed in an expedited manner.
    Current Actions: The Federal Reserve proposes to collect the Legal 
Entity Identifier (LEI) for all banking and nonbanking legal entities 
reportable on the Banking, Non-Banking, SLHC, and 4K schedules (not the 
Branch schedules) of the FR Y-10 and on the Organization Chart section 
of the FR Y-6 and FR Y-7. The LEI is a 20-character alphanumeric code 
that is universal and uniquely corresponds to a single legal entity.\1\ 
The Federal Reserve is only proposing requiring the reporting of an LEI 
if one has already been issued for the reportable entity at the time of 
collection. At this time, the Federal Reserve is not requiring an LEI 
to be obtained for the sole purpose of reporting the LEI on the FR Y-6, 
FR Y-7, and FR Y-10.
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    \1\ ISO 17442:2012 defines the term ``legal entities'' to 
include, but is not limited to, unique parties that are legally or 
financially responsible for the performance of financial 
transactions or have the legal right in their jurisdiction to enter 
independently into legal contracts, regardless of whether they are 
incorporated or constituted in some other way (e.g., all financial 
intermediaries, banks and finance companies, all entities that issue 
equity, debt or other securities for other capital structures, all 
entities listed on an exchange, all entities under the purview of a 
financial regulator and their affiliates, subsidiaries, and holding 
companies, counterparties to financial transactions). It excludes 
natural persons, but includes governmental organizations and 
supranationals.
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    As evident by the recent financial crisis, it was difficult for 
regulators to precisely identify parties involved in financial 
transactions domestically and internationally. At the time, there was 
no unified global identification system for to link legal entities with 
different and multiple regulators and jurisdictions. The Board and each 
financial regulatory agency assigns its' own internal primary 
identifier to the entities that it regulates, such as the Federal 
Reserve's Research Statistics Supervision and Discount Identification 
(i.e., RSSD ID) number, FDIC's Certificate number, and OCC's Charter 
number.
    Several years ago, the Financial Stability Board began leading an 
international initiative to implement a global identifier system that 
would uniquely identify parties to financial transactions, and in 
January 2013, the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee was established to 
oversee the Global Legal Entity Identifier System. Domestically, the 
Financial Stability Oversight Council's Data Committee has encouraged 
U.S. financial regulators to review and incorporate LEIs in their data 
collections that would most benefit for purposes of improving financial 
stability monitoring. As the usage of LEI becomes more prominent, it 
would enable examiners, economists, and financial analysts to perform 
improved analyses, particularly during stressed market conditions, and 
would assist the regulatory community and the financial services 
industry at large, both domestically and internationally. In addition, 
it is expected that the use of the LEI among the regulators will expand 
to facilitate better information sharing and coordination regarding 
domestic financial policy, rulemaking, examinations, reporting 
requirements, and enforcement actions. The U.S. Commodity Futures 
Trading Commission, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and 
the National Association of Insurance Commissioners have already 
incorporated LEI in some of their data collections, and the Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau has recently proposed replacing the 
existing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Reporter's Identification 
number in HMDA submissions with LEI.\2\ A uniform, global LEI would 
assist regulators, supervisors, and public researchers and firms to 
more effectively

[[Page 15011]]

measure and monitor systemic risk and counterparty exposure, as well as 
improve operational efficiencies. A single global system would help 
support the shared objective of a more stable financial system.
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    \2\ 79 FR 51731.
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    While the Federal Reserve has considered retrieving LEI's from the 
issuers directly, this method has been deemed as ineffective since the 
associated structure data is very limited at this time. Reconciling the 
entity's LEI with their current structure data would be difficult and 
most likely result in inaccuracies given that so many institutions have 
similar attributes, such as entity names. Therefore, obtaining the LEI 
directly from the reporting entity is the most reliable source to 
accurately match an entity with the correct LEI.
    The Federal Reserve proposes to add the LEI to the FR Y-6 and FR Y-
7 organizational chart effective with fiscal year ends beginning June 
30, 2015. Submission of existing LEI information would follow the 
normal FR Y-6 and FR Y-7 submission deadlines. The Federal Reserve 
proposes a one-time information collection to populate existing LEI 
data for all FR Y-10 reportable entities (excluding branches), as of 
June 30, 2015. Respondents would submit this information no later than 
September 30, 2015. LEIs issued after June 30, 2015, should be reported 
on the appropriate FR Y-10 schedules. For all LEIs assigned between 
June 30, 2015, and September 30, 2015, information must be received at 
the appropriate Federal Reserve Bank by October 30, 2015. The Federal 
Reserve would provide a means for institutions to provide their one-
time submission data in a format easier than individual FR Y-10 
submissions.
    Question: Comments are invited on whether collecting existing LEI 
information only from entities that are reportable on the FR Y-10 would 
be sufficient rather than collecting LEI information from all entities 
reportable on the FR Y-6 and FR Y-7 organizational charts.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, March 16, 
2015.
Robert deV. Frierson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2015-06363 Filed 3-19-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6210-01-P